Balance Transfer Tips for Newbies

[chalupaman]

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@jsucool76 wrote:

@Not sure that is true with every lender @rlx01

I've always thought that Minimum payment always go to the LOWEST Apr balance with most lenders, and then any payment made in excess of the minimum will be applied to the higher Apr balance.

Balance transferring $200 probably wasn't the best idea, you just paid a bt fee on a balance that is mostly negligible. I understand you don't want your util up, but you don't want to get in the habit of balance transferring instead of paying. You're still responsible for that $200 (and now the BT fee which is subject to your current standard Apr, meaning your first month you need to pay your minimum payment, plus balance transfer fee).

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Yeah, I think I'll take that into much more consideration the next time I think about doing something like this and the Discover card is really the only card I have that has close to that much utilization because of how low the limit is on it. It's going right in the sockdrawer after this. I calculated that balance transfer to be around 6 dollars BTW.

[jsucool76]

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@chalupaman wrote:

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@jsucool76 wrote:

@Not sure that is true with every lender @rlx01

I've always thought that Minimum payment always go to the LOWEST Apr balance with most lenders, and then any payment made in excess of the minimum will be applied to the higher Apr balance.

Balance transferring $200 probably wasn't the best idea, you just paid a bt fee on a balance that is mostly negligible. I understand you don't want your util up, but you don't want to get in the habit of balance transferring instead of paying. You're still responsible for that $200 (and now the BT fee which is subject to your current standard Apr, meaning your first month you need to pay your minimum payment, plus balance transfer fee).

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Yeah, I think I'll take that into much more consideration the next time I think about doing something like this and the Discover card is really the only card I have that has close to that much utilization because of how low the limit is on it. It's going right in the sockdrawer after this. I calculated that balance transfer to be around 6 dollars BTW.

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Some banks have minimum balance transfer fees. Check into your T&C sheet to see if your card has one. Usually not that much, and is this situation not too much of a big deal. 

If you want to keep util low on the discover and keep earning the 5% bonus categories, just make a few payments a month. It's a hassle, but it's better than paying for a BT. 

[chalupaman]

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@jsucool76 wrote:

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@chalupaman wrote:

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@jsucool76 wrote:

@Not sure that is true with every lender @rlx01

I've always thought that Minimum payment always go to the LOWEST Apr balance with most lenders, and then any payment made in excess of the minimum will be applied to the higher Apr balance.

Balance transferring $200 probably wasn't the best idea, you just paid a bt fee on a balance that is mostly negligible. I understand you don't want your util up, but you don't want to get in the habit of balance transferring instead of paying. You're still responsible for that $200 (and now the BT fee which is subject to your current standard Apr, meaning your first month you need to pay your minimum payment, plus balance transfer fee).

---

Yeah, I think I'll take that into much more consideration the next time I think about doing something like this and the Discover card is really the only card I have that has close to that much utilization because of how low the limit is on it. It's going right in the sockdrawer after this. I calculated that balance transfer to be around 6 dollars BTW.

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Some banks have minimum balance transfer fees. Check into your T&C sheet to see if your card has one. Usually not that much, and is this situation not too much of a big deal. 

If you want to keep util low on the discover and keep earning the 5% bonus categories, just make a few payments a month. It's a hassle, but it's better than paying for a BT. 

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Mine says 3% and the promotional APR is 0 until October of 2015 as long as it's completed before December 16, 2014 and after that the interest will be 16.99% and I think I'll have that paid long before then. 

I really like Discover's customer service and all but I just don't know if I'm ever going to get any auto CLIs on that card in the near future.